Young designers find own inspiration
It’s easy to assume that fashion designers gain their inspiration from the runway, but if Western Australia’s up-and-coming creatives are anything to go by, it’s quite the opposite.
Jessica Morrow, 21, says she is inspired by movies, television and her father’s architectural work.
“He does residential architecture, but just looking at his plans, the shapes and the elements that go together to form these architectural structures," she said.
"They’ve always influenced my designs.”
Her dress – a futuristic Game of Thrones style piece – will make an appearance in this year’s student runway show, called “Future Runway” at the Telstra Perth Fashion Festival.
The collection will also feature a dress made from recycled paper. Its designer Melanie Lam, 20, says she often gets her ideas from found objects and rubbish.
“With the paper dress, I was seeing all this paper scrap everywhere from all of the design making that we do and I thought ‘this is such a waste and how can I re-use this to make something more beautiful than having it just end up in the trash',” she said.
Sixty WA designers were selected from 150 entrants, after submitting their drawings to TPFF. Now the audience will get to see their ideas come to life on the runway. There will be six categories, including a brand new Hi-Vis category, with all designs being constructed from Telstra high visibility fluorescent vests.
Student runway eveningwear 2010 winner Natalie Donovan, who has since started up the label Wild Horses, is one of the judges for this year’s competition.
“It’ll be really cool to see what they can do from turning the design into an actual garment… I think most of the local designers; we try and do something away from the crowd. We aim to keep our creativity in tact,” she said.
Future Runway will take place at Fashion Paramount, located within the Perth Concert Hall on Sunday the 21st of September. Tickets available from Ticketek.
